CLEVELAND, April 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- KeyBank (NYSE: KEY), through its Key4Women program, announced today its 2010 Key4Women Forum schedule for 15 cities, featuring customer service expert Cindy Solomon, who will present "The Customer of the Future: The Art of Creating True Customer and Employee Loyalty."  Key4Women, a comprehensive bank program dedicated to helping women business owners achieve success, has lent $3 billion to qualified women business owners since 2005 and, last year, committed to lending another $3 billion by 2012.

The Key4Women Forums are designed to educate and empower women through the insight and advice of a dynamic national speaker. In addition to educating women in business, the distinctive Key4Women Forums raise thousands of dollars for local non-profit organizations that benefit women and girls each year.

Forum speaker Cindy Solomon is president of Solomon & Associates Inc. and is one of the most sought-after leadership and customer loyalty speakers in the country. Over the past two decades, she has helped hundreds of organizations build bottom line results by creating profitable, long-term relationships with customers, leaders and employees.

Solomon's presentation at the Forums will help attendees understand why 80% of customers who leave a product or service state they were actually "satisfied." Solomon will highlight the difference between "customer satisfaction" and "customer loyalty," as well as the steps to identify and profitably meet customer expectations.  Attendees will also learn the critical steps to creating a true long term customer dialog and the keys to engaging their entire team for success. Solomon's style has been described as "provocative, hilarious, and bottom line focused."

The first 2010 Key4Women Forum will be held in Cleveland on May 5. The others will be held throughout the spring and fall in Toledo and Columbus, Ohio; Portland, Oregon; Hudson Valley Region, Albany and Rochester, N.Y.; Indianapolis and South Bend, Indiana; Seattle and South Puget Sound/Tacoma, Washington; Portland, Maine; Burlington, Vermont; and Anchorage, Alaska.  Forum details can be found at: www.key.com/womensforum.

The customer service topic for the 2010 forums coincides with a recent announcement that KeyBank scored significantly higher than its largest competitor banks in a 2009 customer satisfaction survey conducted by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI).

Said Maria Coyne, KeyBank executive vice president and founder of Key4Women, as well as director of client experience for the bank, "Our Key4Women program differentiates KeyBank by providing women business owners with not only the customized financial products and services they need, but the educational and networking opportunities that we know women are leveraging to help them succeed in a competitive environment. And, Cindy's insight is so timely, as we know that good customer service can make or break a company."  

Women entrepreneurs represent a highly dynamic segment of the small business market. According to the Center for Women's Business Research, 10.1 million firms are majority-owned by women. As of 2008, these firms accounted for 40 percent of all privately held companies, employed more than 13 million people and generated $1.9 trillion in sales.

As one of the nation's largest financial services companies and top small business lenders, Key provides financial services to thousands of women-owned businesses in 14 states. Founded in 2005, Key4Women helps women business owners achieve their goals by providing:  

    --  Access to capital: Research shows that women owned business are still
        less likely than male-owned businesses with comparable revenue to use or
        intend to use business credit or equity financing(Center for Women's
        Business Research). Key4Women helps to close the gap for women business
        owners in the use of financial services and helps them access the right
        kind of capital at the right time.

    --  Customized service: KeyBank designates Key4Women Champions in each of
        its 21 districts -- business bankers dedicated to supporting women
        business owners. These Key4Women Champions understand that each business
        owner is unique, and they work closely with clients to provide
        customized solutions.

    --  Networking events: Local Key4Women networking events bring women
        business owners together to share ideas and develop new business
        partnerships. Key4Women members also benefit from partnerships with
        national organizations like the Women's President Organization (WPO),
        the Center for Women's Business Research, and the National Association
        of Women Business Owners (NAWBO).

    --  Educational opportunities: Key.com/women offers resources and
        information, including business tips on SBA lending, marketing, business
        development, Human Resources, and Information Technology. Other
        educational resources include roundtables, the Key4Women Forums, local
        speakers, email newsletters, access to the mariaonmoney.com blog, and
        access to webinars. Local Key4Women events address topics designed to
        help women business owners build skills and knowledge.

About KeyCorp

Cleveland-based KeyCorp is one of the nation's largest bank-based financial services companies, with assets of approximately $93 billion. Key companies provide investment management, retail and commercial banking, consumer finance, and investment banking products and services to individuals and companies throughout the United States and, for certain businesses, internationally.  For more information, visit https://www.key.com/.

SOURCE KeyCorp